Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
367095000 | Returned signal used for control | 34 |
20090213694 | Method and device for detecting the surface character of objects in road traffic or of persons - A method for detecting the surface character of objects in road traffic or of persons, especially pedestrians, vehicles, obstacles and the like, in which signals are emitted from a vehicle that are reflected by a person or an object, and in which the reflected signals are received and evaluated in the vehicle, wherein the emitted signals are transmit pulses whose echo pulses are received, and based on the signal characteristics of the echo pulses, the surface character is inferred, and from that, it is inferred whether a person or an object is positioned in front of the vehicle. | 08-27-2009 |
20110032799 | ACOUSTIC SYSTEM QUALITY ASSURANCE AND TESTING - Embodiments of the invention provide systems and methods for testing acoustic systems. According to one embodiment, a method for testing an acoustic system can comprise receiving a signal from the acoustic system at a testing device coupled with the acoustic system via one of a plurality of channels between the acoustic system and the testing device. The signal can include a pattern of pulses. At least one pulse from the pattern of pulses of the signal can be detected with the testing device. A response to the signal from the acoustic system can be provided by generating an echo pulse with the testing device based on the detected at least one pulse. The echo pulse can mimic a response to the detected at least one pulse for a selected acoustic probe. | 02-10-2011 |
20110122728 | OPERATING METHOD FOR AN ULTRA-SOUND SENSOR - An operating method adapted in an ultra-sound sensor is provided. The method includes the steps of emitting an ultra-sound wave, receiving a crosstalk signal within a crosstalk measuring window, determining whether the crosstalk signal is larger than a crosstalk threshold and triggering a crosstalk application if the crosstalk signal is smaller than the crosstalk threshold. | 05-26-2011 |
20120069711 | TERMINAL DEVICE, MOBILE TERMINAL, AND NAVIGATION PROGRAM - A terminal device includes an orientation calculating unit that calculates the orientation of a device with respect to the target. Furthermore, the terminal device also includes a degree-of-processing determining unit that determines the degree of processing related to an attribute of a sound that indicates the target in accordance with the orientation calculated by the orientation calculating unit. Furthermore, the terminal device also includes an output control unit that controls an output of a sound in accordance with the degree of processing determined by the degree-of-processing determining unit. | 03-22-2012 |
20120218867 | ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCER - Provided is an electromechanical transducer which is capable of correcting or compensating a fluctuation in the transmission/reception characteristics of an elastic wave transmitting/receiving unit due to applied pressure. The electromechanical transducer ( | 08-30-2012 |
20130083629 | ULTRASOUND DETECTING SYSTEM AND METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY CONTROLLING FREEZE THEREOF - An apparatus for automatically controlling a state of operation of an ultrasound detecting system is provided. The apparatus comprises a first sensor disposed in a probe of the ultrasound detecting system and connected to a device main body, wherein the first sensor is configured to detect if the probe is being operated, and a control unit configured to control the state of operation of the ultrasound detecting system based on the detecting results of the first sensor. | 04-04-2013 |
20130094329 | CHANNEL IMPULSE RESPONSE ESTIMATION - A human-machine interface system adapted to track movement of an object in air is disclosed. In one aspect, the human-machine interface includes an acoustic transmitter, an acoustic receiver, and logic configured to apply a calculated inverse matrix of an impulse signal transmitted by the acoustic transmitter to a signal received by the acoustic receiver, wherein movement of the object is used to control the machine. | 04-18-2013 |
20130215721 | POSITIONING SYSTEM FOR DETECTING POSITION OF CLEANSING DEVICE - A positioning system for detecting the position of a cleansing device is provided. The positioning system includes a cleansing device and a base station. The cleansing device includes a controlling unit, a cleaning module, a first emitting unit, and a second emitting unit. The controlling unit controls cleansing operation performed on a cleansing region taken care by the cleaning module, controls the first emitting unit to emit an initial signal, and controls the second emitting unit to emit an ultrasonic signal. The base station includes a first receiving unit, two second receiving units, and a computing unit. The first receiving unit receives the initial signal. The second receiving units receive the ultrasonic signal. The computing unit computes the position of the cleansing device according to the initial signal received and the point in time when the ultrasonic signal is received. | 08-22-2013 |
20140029384 | USER INTERFACES FOR ELECTRONIC DEVICES - An electronic device comprises a transmitter | 01-30-2014 |
20140140175 | TRACKBALL MODULE, ULTRASONIC IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS USING TRACKBALL MODULE AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING ULTRASONIC IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS USING TRACKBALL MODULE - An ultrasonic image processing apparatus includes a trackball module configured to receive a control command from a user, and a controller configured to generate a control command for the trackball module and transfers the generated control signal to the trackball module. The trackball module includes a trackball configured to receive a control command from a user, and a lighting device. The lighting device includes a light source, an optical passage bent at least once to provide an optical path through which light emitted from the light source passes while being reflected at least once, and a light exit opening defined at one end of the optical passage from which light passing through the optical passage is emitted to an outside of the lighting device. The light exit opening is defined around the trackball. | 05-22-2014 |
20140146640 | INFORMATION TERMINAL DEVICE AND OBJECT IDENTIFICATION DEVICE - An information terminal device ( | 05-29-2014 |
20140293747 | MEASUREMENT OF REFLECTED ULTRASOUND SIGNAL FOR ULTRASONIC EMITTER GATING CONTROL - A method and apparatus to gate an ultrasonic emitter operation includes a housing including the ultrasonic emitter, where the ultrasonic emitter is operable to periodically transmit an ultrasonic pulse of a predefined frequency. A microphone circuit is disposed in the housing, such that the microphone circuit is operable to receive a reflected ultrasonic signal derived from the transmitted ultrasonic pulse. A controller is coupled to the emitter and the microphone circuit, where the controller operable to gate the operation of the emitter to an OFF state based on at least one measured parameter of the reflected ultrasonic signal. The parameters can include a Doppler measurement and a distance measurement. | 10-02-2014 |
20160044394 | LOW-POWER ENVIRONMENT MONITORING AND ACTIVATION TRIGGERING FOR MOBILE DEVICES THROUGH ULTRASOUND ECHO ANALYSIS - Systems and methods are disclosed that provide for low-power monitoring of the acoustic echo path around a device to enable device triggering based on activity detection in the environment. An ultrasonic (or more generally an acoustic) reference signal is played through a speaker at well-chosen intervals and its echoes recorded through a microphone. The recorded signal is analyzed to obtain an estimation of the total echo path or echo energy. By monitoring this estimation variation, significant changes in the echo path or echo energy can be identified and used as a trigger. In one embodiment, a hand approaching a phone changes the echo path, activating the phone to a power on mode. In another embodiment, a user using a phone close to the ear changes the echo energy, triggering the phone to select the “ear-fit” mode speaker/microphone. | 02-11-2016 |
20160124080 | Method and apparatus for producing an acoustic field - A plurality of control points are defined having a known spatial relationship relative to an array of transducers. An amplitude is assigned to each control point. A matrix is produced containing elements which represent, for each of the control points, the effect that producing a modeled acoustic field having the assigned amplitude with a particular phase at the control point has on the consequential amplitude and phase of the modeled acoustic field at the other control points. Eigenvectors of the matrix are determined, each eigenvector representing a set of phases and relative amplitudes of the modeled acoustic field at the control points. One of the sets is selected and the transducer array is operated to cause one or more of the transducers to output an acoustic wave each having an initial amplitude and phase such that the phases and amplitudes of the resultant acoustic field at the control points correspond to the phases and relative amplitudes of the selected set. | 05-05-2016 |
367096000 | External device | 6 |
20080198694 | Patch test for 3D sonar data - A method of automatically performing a patch test for a sonar system is disclosed, where data from a plurality of overlapping 3D sonar scans of a surface as the platform is moved are used to compensate for biases in mounting the sonar system on the platform. | 08-21-2008 |
20130070563 | SONAR SCANNER - Detecting an object using sound waves includes outputting a sound wave from a transducer, receiving an echo after outputting the sound wave, obtaining a threshold value based on the echo and plural other echoes that are within a predetermined range of the echo, and determining if the echo is a result of the sound wave based on the threshold value. | 03-21-2013 |
20150323668 | METHOD FOR THE IMPROVED ACTUATION OF ULTRASONIC SENSORS, DRIVER ASSISTANCE DEVICE AND MOTOR VEHICLE - A method for operating an ultrasonic system having a multiplicity of ultrasonic sensors is disclosed. The sensors are arranged distributed on a motor vehicle and are actuated in measuring cycles for the emission of an ultrasonic signal, where the measuring cycles are repeated. An object in the surroundings of the motor vehicle is detected by a detection device, different from the ultrasonic system, of the motor vehicle, and a relative position of the object relative to the motor vehicle is determined. The number of ultrasonic sensors which are actuated within one measuring cycle is then defined as a function of the current relative position. | 11-12-2015 |
20160084958 | PARKING ASSISTANCE FOR A VEHICLE - Systems and techniques are described that provide automated parking assistance for a vehicle. In some implementations, a parking assistance apparatus includes a frequency generator configured to generate a first frequency and a second frequency, and generate at least one synthesized frequency that is synthesized from the first frequency and the second frequency. The apparatus also includes a piezoelectric converter configured to, using piezoelectric effects, transmit ultrasonic waves having the at least one synthesized frequency, and receive reflected ultrasonic waves that result from the transmitted ultrasonic waves being reflected by an object. The apparatus also includes a filter unit configured to detect a predetermined frequency from the reflected ultrasonic waves. | 03-24-2016 |
20160103211 | ULTRASONIC TRANSMISSION AND RECEPTION DEVICE - An ultrasonic transmission and reception device is described. This includes a transmission circuit for generating a transmission signal at its transmission outputs and, an ultrasonic transducer, which is suited for converting electrical signals into sound signals and sound signals into electrical signals, a transformer, the primary side of which is connected to the transmission outputs and of the transmission circuit and the secondary side of which is connected to the ultrasonic transducer, and a reception circuit for processing a received signal present at its reception input. The ultrasonic transmission and reception device is characterized in that the reception input of the reception circuit is connected to the transformer via an additional winding tap of the transformer, the additional winding tap being incorporated into the transformer in such a way that the transformed transmission signal at the reception input of the reception circuit is boosted in its voltage amplitude with a lower gain factor than the transformed transmission signal which excites the ultrasonic transducer. | 04-14-2016 |
20160116590 | OBJECT DETECTION APPARATUS - An object detection apparatus for detecting an object around a moving object by transmitting a probe wave and receiving reflections of the probe wave from the object via the plurality of ranging sensors. In the apparatus, an interaction determiner is configured to, if an object position calculated by a position calculator is within a range of a moving-object's course, determine whether or not the detected object is likely to interact with the moving object based on a lateral position of the detected object and a degree of confidence of the object position calculated by the position calculator. The lateral position of the detected object is the object position calculated by the position calculator in a direction perpendicular to a moving direction of the moving object. | 04-28-2016 |
367097000 | Receiver system | 14 |
20110261652 | SELF-TUNING ACOUSTIC MEASUREMENT SYSTEM - In one embodiment, an acoustic distance measurement system can dynamically adjust its measurement frequency to a frequency that is within a preselected bandwidth of the resonant frequency of an acoustic transducer used in making acoustic distance measurements. | 10-27-2011 |
20160025854 | WEARABLE OBSTACLE-DETECTION DEVICE, AND CORRESPONDING METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT - A device for detecting obstacles that is wearable by a subject, for example integrated in an item of footwear. The device includes an ultrasound source for emitting an ultrasound transmission signal and an ultrasound receiver for receiving a corresponding ultrasound signal reflected by an obstacle, a control module for measuring a time of flight between emission of the ultrasound transmission signal and reception of the corresponding ultrasound signal reflected by the obstacle and calculating, on the basis of the aforesaid time of flight, the distance at which the obstacle is located. The device comprises an inertial sensor, in particular an acceleration sensor, designed to measure acceleration of the foot along three axes, and a control module configured for enabling operation of the ultrasound source if the aforesaid acceleration values measured by the inertial sensor respect a given condition for enabling measurement of the time of flight. | 01-28-2016 |
20160047906 | MARINE MULTIBEAM SONAR DEVICE - A marine multibeam sonar device comprises a processing element and a transmitter. The processing element generates a plurality of transmit transducer electronic signals and inverts a polarity of a first portion of the transmit transducer electronic signals. The transmitter is in communication with the processing element and includes a plurality of transmit electronic circuits and a plurality of transmit transducers. Each transmit electronic circuit receives and processes one of the transmit transducer electronic signals, wherein a first portion of the circuits re-inverts the polarity of the first portion of the transmit transducer electronic signals. The transmit transducers receive the processed transmit transducer electronic signals from the transmit electronic circuits and generate a sonar beam. | 02-18-2016 |
20160097846 | Systems and Methods for Ultrasound Beamforming - A system for ultrasound beamforming is provided, including a sampled analog beamformer, an array of ultrasound transducers, and a high voltage amplifier coupled to the sampled analog beamformer and the array of ultrasound transducers. The sampled analog beamformer includes a sampled analog filter for filtering an incoming analog signal and adding a fractional delay, and transmitting a filtered analog ultrasound signal. The array of ultrasound transducers further transmits the filtered analog ultrasound signal. The high voltage amplifier drives transducers in the array of ultrasound transducers. | 04-07-2016 |
20160161603 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ARBITRARY WAVEFORM GENERATION USING A TRI-STATE TRANSMIT PULSER - A method and system for generating arbitrary ultrasonic waveforms using a tri-state transmitter. Three variants of the device are described to provide functionality in three usage scenarios. | 06-09-2016 |
367098000 | Automatic gain or threshold control | 9 |
20100080083 | Time-Dependant Gain Control For An Amplifier Used In Receiving Echoes - An amplifier circuit to amplify a sequence of echoes and to generate a corresponding sequence of amplified signals. In an embodiment, the amplifier includes an operational amplifier, with variable input and feedback resistances such that the ratio of the two resistances can be controlled. A gain control block controls the ratio in a time dependent manner to obtain desired gain factors for each of the echoes. The gain factors can be pre-computed such that all the echoes are gained to the same level in case of an ultra-sound system. | 04-01-2010 |
20100214872 | Ultrasonic Sensor Having Time-Variable Sensitivity Threshold Values - An ultrasonic sensor is described, in which a time curve for the sensitivity is specified via threshold values which are assigned to individual interpolation points. The position in time of the interpolation points for the ultrasonic sensor is variable. | 08-26-2010 |
20110122729 | Controlling Method for Ultra-sound Sensor - A controlling method for ultra-sound sensor is provided. The method includes the steps of measuring a distance of an obstacle, determining whether the distance is smaller than a distance threshold, and adjusting a driving voltage if the distance is smaller than the distance threshold. | 05-26-2011 |
20110228639 | Active Sonar System and Active Sonar Method Using Noise Reduction Techniques and Advanced Signal Processing Techniques - An active sonar system and associated method combine signals from a plurality of receive beams in order to reduce a noise in a reference one of the signals from the plurality of receive beams. | 09-22-2011 |
20120069712 | ULTRASONIC DISTANCE MEASUREMENT CONTROLLER - Technologies are generally described for an integrated circuit that is designed to serve as the basis of SONAR sensors that provide high sensitivity, low noise, low cost, and electronically adjustable gain in a small package may incorporate transducer drivers and signal sensing functions. Electronically programmable gain of the circuit may provide flexibility in system designs for gain management, and eliminate a need for manual gain adjustments in production. Power may be supplied to the sensor(s) over a power line of the circuit from a direct current source through a resistor. The same line may also be used for communicating with the sensor(s). Data from the microcontroller may be transmitted to the sensor(s) using an open-drain driver transistor and received through another transistor isolating the micro-controller's input from potentially high voltages present on the power line. | 03-22-2012 |
20150085612 | METHOD AND DRIVING-ENVIRONMENT SENSOR FOR DETERMINING THE POSITION AND/OR THE MOVEMENT OF AT LEAST ONE OBJECT IN THE VICINITY OF A VEHICLE ON THE BASIS OF ACOUSTIC SIGNALS REFLECTED OFF OF THE OBJECT - In a method for determining the position and/or the movement of an object in the vicinity of a vehicle, received echo signals that have been reflected off of the object are each amplified by an amplification that is dependent on the propagation delay of the corresponding echo signal, and amplified echo signals of a plurality of measuring channels are each converted into a value-discretized and/or time-discretized measurement signal having a predefined, first dynamic range; and the measurement signals, which each have the first dynamic range, are mapped onto a second dynamic range of a processing device that is larger than the first dynamic range, in a way that allows them to be at least periodically simultaneously processed by the processing device. | 03-26-2015 |
20160033628 | OBJECT DETECTION APPARATUS AND METHOD - Provided are an object detection apparatus and method. The object detection apparatus includes an amplifier configured to amplify a reflected ultrasonic wave signal with a variable gain, a gain controller configured to set the variable gain such that the reflected ultrasonic wave signal received in at least one predetermined time zone is amplified with a high gain, compared to in other time zones, a comparator configured to compare a signal on an envelope corresponding to the signal amplified by the amplifier with a predetermined threshold and output the signal on the envelope when the signal is greater than the threshold, a calculator configured to calculate an absolute value of a first-order differential value of the signal on the envelope, and a time at which a maximum of the absolute value of the first-order differential value is calculated, and a detector configured to detect an object using a third time, the third time being a time at which the maximum is calculated, before a second time, the second time being a time at which the signal greater than the threshold is output. | 02-04-2016 |
20160069990 | OBSTACLE DETECTION DEVICE - An obstacle detection device includes a plurality of ultrasonic sensors and a detection control unit. The detection control unit detects an object by using one of at least two of the ultrasonic sensors as a transmission sensor that transmits an ultrasonic wave and the other of the at least two of the ultrasonic sensors as a reception sensor that receives the ultrasonic wave transmitted by the transmission sensor and reflected. A difference of heights of the one used as the transmission sensor and the other used as the reception sensor attached to a surface of a vehicle body from a ground is a predetermined threshold height that is defined based on twice a height of a bump on the ground as a non-detection object. | 03-10-2016 |
20160187474 | SURFACE MAPPING SYSTEMS AND METHODS USING DYNAMIC THRESHOLDS - Techniques are disclosed for systems and methods to provide dynamic threshold sonar systems for mobile structures. A dynamic threshold sonar system may include sonar equipment configured to capturing sonar data by receiving and converting acoustic returns into arrays of time differentiated sonar data samples, and a processor communicatively coupled to the sonar receiver. The processor may be configured to receive the sonar data samples and determine noise characteristics of the sonar data. The processor may determine a threshold for surface detection based on the noise characteristics and detect a surface, and determine a distance to the surface, based on a comparison of the sonar data to the threshold that has been determined based on the same sonar data. | 06-30-2016 |